Prize Recipient

Sharon Torres

Background:

My name is Sharon Torres, and I am thrilled to be awarded the APS Minority Scholarship for the second year in a row. I am now a senior in the physics department at Johns Hopkins University, currently in the throes of deciding where to attend graduate school. This year saw the conclusion of my first major astrophysical research endeavor, which is in the process of reaching publication. I have since started new work on a nonradiative filament in the same target region as before, the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant. I credit my appetite for physics to my parents, both of whom have careers in science: my mother is in nuclear medicine, and my father (recently retired from the US Army) specializes in health physics and radiation safety. We are of Puerto Rican descent, but as a military family we have lived throughout the US and overseas in the Far East. My parents, as well as my younger brother and sister, have long been the only constants in my life, and it is thanks to their support that I have made it to my final year at JHU. I eagerly anticipate starting the next phase in my pursuit of a career in astrophysics.